Who is the next Tony Kornheiser in the broadcast booth?

Tony Kornheiser’s tenure as a Monday Night Football game analyst is one of the strangest experiments in sports broadcasting history.

The longtime columnist’s departure in 2009 was the last time an NFL color commentator was not a former athlete or coach, and the way his time in the booth ended may be why. There was a sense among NFL fans that Kornheiser was doing his own shtick on the broadcast and never really fit in.

After Kornheiser left, announcer Mike Tirico was super critical of him, and ESPN found an adequate alternative in Jon Gruden.

Despite the attention Kornheiser received calling games, no network has given a reporter such a prominent role on NFL games since. The formula is pretty well-known by now across all sports: the longtime play-by-play man is joined by a retired star athlete or coach, maybe two. When anyone breaks the mold, from Doris Burke to former agent and GM Bob Myers on the NBA to even Greg Olsen (for not being a quarterback!), it gets attention.

But for the most part, every booth is the same.

This NFL preseason, two strong performances from football media stars led some to wonder whether the Kornheiser mold could return. ESPN’s Mina Kimes joined the Los Angeles Rams preseason booth for the third straight season, while on the opposite coast, Fox and NFL Network’s Peter Schrager joined the booth for the final New York Jets preseason game . Both are as good as it gets as NFL personalities and would likely be top candidates if anyone at Amazon, Netflix, or the traditional networks poked around.

Kimes knows how football works and what makes teams and players great, as well as anyone. She blends analytics and a fundamental understanding of schemes with an entertaining style that has helped her rise quickly at ESPN. Schrager is as well-sourced in the NFL as any insider covering any sport but makes a point of going deeper into the trends and tactics that matter. Kimes reportedly auditioned to host the ManningCast on ESPN2 before the brothers decided to roll without one.

At the same time, Schrager has become the face of the NFL Network’s Good Morning Football team alongside Kyle Brandt, each without any playing experience. They both are among the only NFL journos who truly could keep up with the beats of a real game while offering researched nuggets that keep an audience locked in.

It’s not just football that has a bench like this.

On the NBA side, both Bill Simmons and his Grantland protege Zach Lowe rose to become among the only writers to get top broadcast jobs at ESPN. Simmons was part of NBA Countdown and the network’s NBA Draft coverage before departing in 2015, while Lowe is a regular panelist on NBA Today . At the local level, Memphis radio host Chris Vernon is an analyst on Grizzlies studio coverage, while longtime ESPN game reporter Holly Rowe has the third chair in the Utah Jazz booth.

Tim Kurkjian gets nowhere near enough attention in baseball for his pioneering role in the ESPN booth. Kurkjian uses deep reporting, stories from every generation in the sport, and unmistakable passion to more than hold his own calling MLB and Little League games. Before him, Tom Verducci spent two years in Fox’s top MLB booth as a storyteller and reporter from the inside. On StatCast broadcasts, analyst Mike Petriello receives consistent praise for breaking down the game from a statistical standpoint.

Most of these analysts work best in a three-person booth. That way, someone from inside the sport can provide the blow-by-blow of a game while the reporter can lay back and add color. But the payoff can be immense.

Howard Cosell is beloved, and his Monday Night Football booth is considered one of the best ever. Cosell used the freedom ABC gave him and was openly confrontational with his colleagues and critical of players and teams. While he probably needed Frank Gifford and Don Meredith to balance him, Cosell brought something refreshing to fans’ NFL viewing experience.

In this era of athlete-led media, moving away from retired stars in the booth may seem counterintuitive. But if all these podcasts and debate shows show us anything, too many athletes can get stale, too.

Imagine Lowe in with Burke and Mike Breen or Ryan Ruocco and Richard Jefferson, bringing stories and stats to help tell the story of a game. Imagine Petriello making the numbers fun next to the grouchy John Smoltz.

Rather than letting these folks call games and calling it an alt-cast, let it be the real deal.

On the NFL side, it may take a while despite Kimes and Schrager earning praise for their work already. Football is less numbers-obsessed than other sports, making it more reliant on gridiron experience in the booth. And many of the top broadcast teams already have superstars and chemistry among their broadcasters. Tom Brady needs no help captivating an audience, and ESPN isn’t messing with the Joe Buck-Troy Aikman tandem.

But as Cris Collinsworth eyes his next deal and eventual retirement, Kirk Herbstreit decides if he needs the NFL and Brady sorts out how long he wants to do this job, network execs could get a big win by thinking outside the box.

If Peyton Manning, perhaps the most heavily pursued broadcaster in recent sports history, thought Kimes would be a good fit with him, the industry should listen. Every sports host in America knows Schrager is as good a guest as there is.

Chemistry and personality are always vital for a great broadcast, but it’s time to stop thinking of reporters as a curio or bit part of calling games and realize the potential for them to level up the game experience.

The post When will we get the next Tony Kornheiser in the broadcast booth? appeared first on Awful Announcing .